


Wasteland Warrior.  1/1.

by punky_96



Category: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: F/F, among others, influenced by Riddick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 13:57:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punky_96/pseuds/punky_96
Summary: Re-Post from LJ.AU: Surviving an assassination attempt, Miranda returns to claim what is hers.What is this fic? It’s not New York and it’s certainly not Earth. I am reluctant to name all the influences for this fic, but they are all TV and film.





	Wasteland Warrior.  1/1.

**_Wasteland Warrior. Part 1/1._**  
  
_He will pay_. Miranda groaned as she rolled over on the riverbank. Checking around her, she found no threat in the grass that grew by the river. Perhaps a predator would come for a drink, but it was getting to be the hottest time of day and she knew nothing would be moving. Closing her eyes, she willed the pain away with thoughts of vengeance. She’d never wanted the throne, but someone had to sit in it. When you kill the leader—you become the leader.  _Regardless, he will pay. He failed to actually kill me_.  
  
It was dark, when she opened her eyes again. With a start, she realized the cushion of river grasses could never feel this pleasant, nor smell this kind of clean.  _Civilization_. Her mind screamed at her. She tried to move and found that she’d been battered over too many rocks in her struggle to stay afloat in the unfamiliar rapids. Moving brought pain, so she stopped. If this person or group wanted her dead, then they wouldn’t have moved her to a comfy bed. They’d have just done with it.  
  
_Where am I that no one wants my head on a platter or to claim me for their own?_  Miranda flexed her muscles as she carefully took stock of what hurt and didn’t hurt. Best she could tell she had all of her appendages, her left arm had been splinted and her ribs had been wrapped. She knew there was a gash on her cheek, across her forehead, and across the top of her left shoulder.  _A bedroom. I’m in someone’s bedroom. I wonder if they have something for the pain._  
  
The door opened and a woman stepped into the room. “Good to see your eyes. I wasn’t sure how hard you’d hit your head.”  
  
Raising an eyebrow at the younger woman, Miranda wondered if she could speak.  
  
Pulling a chair over to the bedside as if they were close friends, the woman pulled a water bottle off the side table. “Drink something and then say something. I need to know if your head is scrambled.”  
  
Shifting her eyes to the edge of the water bottle that the woman held to her lips, Miranda accepted small sips before reaching up with her good arm to push it away. “What is this place?” As far as she knew they had gone out into the wilds beyond the edges of the map where there were just dragons flying around the edges. Not pretty young women who scooped up total strangers from riverbanks and took them home to delightful bedrooms all cozy and cared for.  
  
“Guess your brain’s not scrambled then. Astute question given the shape you’re in.” The younger woman put the water bottle on the bedside table and then settled into her chair. Crossing one leg over the other, she clasped her hands on her knee, before confiding. “Somewhere they won’t find you.”  
  
_Indeed._  Miranda thought, though she murmured only. “We’ll see.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Three days later Miranda managed to wriggle herself around and out of the bed when her healer left for the afternoon. She knew enough of the woman’s routine to know she’d be long gone before the brunette came back.  
  
“Where do you think you’re going?” The brunette stood to face her from the plants she’d been tending to in front of the cabin.  
  
Realizing that she’d only known the woman was not in the room with her, didn’t mean that she wasn’t still nearby, Miranda refused to admit she’d been had. Again. Certainly not by some slip of a woman who lived alone in a cabin in the back of nowhere. Standing to her full height, Miranda kept moving. “They wanted to play. So, we’ll play for blood.”  
  
Standing in Miranda’s path the brunette shook her head. “You’re not going anywhere when a little nothing girl like me could take you.” Seeing that Miranda had not slowed her pace, the woman reached toward Miranda’s face as if to strike her.  
  
Miranda never saw the other hand going low in order to poke her in the ribs none too gently. “Oh!” She cried out as she curled into herself. “Do you know who I am?” She growled out affronted by the assault.  
  
Placing her hands on her hips in a no-nonsense way, the brunette rolled her eyes. “Sure I do. Why, you’re  _Almost Dead_.” Seeing Miranda was not impressed then woman added, “Consider it a step up from what I first called you— _Carrion_.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Many days later over dinner, Miranda asked, “Who are you?”  _What is your name? Why do you live out here? Who are the others that I’ve noticed come and go, but never come inside? Why did you help me?_  
  
Setting her mug down and pushing her plate away from her, Andy explained. “Many prisoners of your regime are forced to become soldiers. Not so much unlike yourself really. Only instead of coming in at the top, they are at the bottom. Some eventually rebel and are killed. Others disappear one way or the other. Many end up here. Then there are those who do not fit within the confines of your society. They too run out into the untamed lands. It is a strange mixture of people out here and it is ever changing. The constant that ties everyone together is that the regime is not tolerated out here.”  
  
_Which are you then cop or criminal?_ Miranda realized that the woman had carefully answered many of her unspoken questions without telling her anything about herself. “It is believed that the river flows off the cliff where the water sinks down to be recycled up to us again. Beyond that there is a wasteland filled with scrub and poisonous snakes.”  
  
The brunette smiled in a way that shared her true inner joy. “That’s the way it should be.”  
  
Shaking her head, Miranda thought about her journey down the river. “I went over the edge and the water kept flowing. Sometimes smooth, but so fast I could not catch hold of anything. Other times it was curved and rocky. I was thrown about like a stick. I know that I crawled ashore onto a bank covered in water grasses. This is not a wasteland.”  
  
Tapping her lips with her fingertips, the woman seemed to examine her from head to toe as if seeing her for the first time. “Few survive the waterfall, let alone the rapids. You may not feel like it, but you are lucky.” She smiled at Miranda’s grim expression. “Besides, it tells me that the folks that wanted you dead, well, they stayed up on top and never came down here.”  
  
Miranda tilted her head as she considered the woman she’d spent the last several weeks with. “What is your name?”  
  
Reaching out her hand, the brunette smiled. “Andy. What would you like to be called?  _Almost Dead_  won’t work anymore and I don’t figure you’d like  _Mostly Recovered_  any better.”  
  
Wondering if she could really take a chance and just blend into a new life here, Miranda considered what she would like to be called if she were to stay in this new place.  _Reckoning_  sounded good in her head. She’d just have to change her name again though when all was said and done. Both of those thoughts put her back on a course to see those who had betrayed her put down. Choosing a new name for this place when her course lead back would be pointless. “Miranda.” She shook Andy’s hand feeling as though they had just made an agreement of some kind.  
  
“So you’re going back then?” Andy sighed as she sat back in her chair. “I s’pose you need to, since they didn’t kill you right the first time.”  
  
Miranda tilted her head in agreement. “I need to show them how it’s done, you see.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Miranda found Andy rummaging in a closet several days after that. “What are you searching for?”  
  
Holding out a piece of armor without turning to face her guest, Andy explained. “You’re about well enough to go back. I have a few things here that might help you avoid death again.” She kept picking things up and shifting them about to find hidden treasures. When she found another piece of armor, she held it back again without checking to see that Miranda was still there.  
  
Glancing at the pieces of armor that she recognized made up her soldiers’ gear, Miranda asked one of the questions that had sprouted up from their only specific talk about who this woman was before heading into the wasteland. “So you were a soldier then, not a social outcast?”  
  
Laughing to herself at that, Andy stopped shifting things and stood up to face Miranda. Mirth still lined her features as she replied. “A bit of both actually.” Glancing at the pieces at her feet, Andrea bent to pick them up. She examined them before adding, “These are not from the same suit. We might have to trade in order to fully outfit you.”  
  
Miranda followed the younger woman as she made her way to the table. “How could you be a bit of both?”  
  
Andy settled into a chair knowing that the woman still standing would not let things go this time. “When my people were conquered, I was forced into the fighting ranks.” She leaned and pulled her hair away from her neck so that Miranda could see the conquering brand. “Emotionally, I was in no position to resist. I went through my training and was assigned boring details around the capitol. Eventually, my mental state returned, though I felt stuck going through the motions of where I found myself. Home was a destroyed dream that I could not return to. Promotions came and the tasks became more interesting and demanding. Then I was included on a strike force to conquer people in the South East. Coming into contact with refugees from my world, my path became clear. I turned spy. After that I was a fugitive, a rebel, and eventually just a name on a wanted slip.”  
  
Miranda shook her head. “Why would you help me? Why not leave me as carrion?”  
  
Shrugging, Andy leaned back in her seat and considered her words carefully. “Tell me about what happened? Why are you going back?”  
  
Letting out a huff of reluctance, Miranda crossed her legs and clasped her hands on her knee. “I wanted to go back to my people. Ravitz knew where the realm was and assigned Follet to take me there.”  
  
The familiarity of these names did not surprise Andy. She only wondered, “You did not recognize the river?”  
  
Rolling her eyes, Miranda admitted, “I was told there had been a discovery of gold we should confirm before our long voyage. It was not until I was on the riverbank above the waterfall that I recognized the treachery behind me. I fought, but the numbers and geography were enough to see them victorious. They should have checked for my body. How careless of them.”  
  
Andy let her eyes wander around the living area before landing back on Miranda to contemplate the woman and her words further. “To go back you’ll need to get Ravitz and Follet isolated or go in with a force. He will have assumed the throne, unless she claimed the kill and fought him for it.”  
  
Miranda nodded her agreement on this assessment and then added the troublesome part. The same part that had caught her unaware the first time she challenged the conquerors. “The throne cannot remain empty.”  
  
Andy leaned forward with her elbow on the table. Her edges were hard now. “So, you’ll just sit in it again.” She challenged Miranda.  
  
Matching her posture, Miranda met her steely gaze with her own determined one. “Oh, no. I won’t just sit in that throne. I’ll flip their world on its head. You know how I challenged the last leader, but do you know why I did it? Do you know why I wanted to go home?”  
  
Opening her mouth to answer, Andy closed it again as the woman stood.  
  
“Life has written me off enough times that I don’t bother counting.” Miranda began a slow pace next to the table as she shared events and examined them. “I don’t know how, but I found myself caring about this girl I met on the frontiers. I had guarded her for years. When they invade our lands, she was taken prisoner. I had only been gone for an afternoon at the market. When I saw her again, she had the mark like you and she wanted me to join quietly, to become one of them like her. In the challenge, she was killed. Ravitz came out of nowhere, but he had been plotting the kill. I beat him to it and instead of killing me for killing the leader—they put that crown on my head. I was numb and while I didn’t follow their rules, I didn’t flaunt that defiance either. When I pulled myself together I offered Ravitz the throne to get the information I needed to go home.”  
  
Andy considered this sequence of events. “He couldn’t sit on the throne with you out there as a potential threat.”  
  
Nodding at this, Miranda rested her hands on the back of her empty chair. “If I go back, it will be with a clear head. I will eliminate those who tried to play me. Then I will eliminate the conquering and unnecessary violence. We can still hold power over others without being their masters. Trading and alliances will make this land far richer than decimating new lands until they are decaying copies of the one this people originally came from.”  
  
Already impressed with Miranda’s answers, Andy asked her final question. “Once you are on the throne will you turn this way in order to make the wasteland into something else?”  
  
Before the words could fade into silence, Miranda firmly replied. “No. I will not explain the wasteland to others and I will not return to exploit it. The people will not be about conquering once I wrangle them.”  
  
On her feet in seconds, Andy scooped up the pieces of armor. “Come with me.”  
  
Miranda followed her to the door, but then stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Andy.” When the younger woman turned to face her with questioning eyes, Miranda found herself uncertain of what she wanted. “I would only ever come back here alone for you.”  _I care for you._  Went unsaid though their eyes each communicated it back and forth between them.  
  
“I would like that.” Andy angled her head toward the door again. “We have to go.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
The hill behind Andy’s house had a small trail going up and over it. Miranda wordlessly followed her host into this new territory. At the top, Miranda looked around the view. She could see the river in the distance and wondered, not for the first time, just how Andy had gotten her from the riverbank to the cabin. “We cannot stay here long.” Andy encouraged Miranda to move again as she continued on the path down the other side of the hill.  
  
Miranda tried to discern from the panorama just where Andy was taking her. As far as she could tell the geography just continued in a series of ridges similar to the one they were on with various gullies and ravines between them.  _The question is not to where, but to whom..._  Miranda held her questions in as they descended quicker than they had ascended.  
  
At the bottom of the gulley, they turned and Miranda heard the sounds of fighting. Her body tensed and she edged even with Andy in a protective gesture. The young brunette chuckled as she put a calming hand on her arm. “They will not hurt you.” A hundred paces more and they stepped into the edge of a clearing filled with people in various states of armor and clustered around several sparring groups.  
  
Some armor held familiar marks while its condition spoke to its hard life beyond the edges of civilization. Other pieces seemed to be repurposed or homemade. “What is this, Andy?”  
  
Motioning out to her colleagues, Andy explained. “We exist in a liminal space that could be challenged at any time. To a person, we are each deserters or outlaws. Should our existence become known—we would be slaughtered. It is in our interest to keep our skills honed and at the ready. Practicing and hunting are the main pursuits out here.”  
  
Miranda wanted to be angry with the younger woman for keeping this from her. Yet, she knew in her heart that she would have done the same if she had been able to survive with a group of refugees or rebels. Her admiration of this younger woman intensified as she considered everything she had learned. “You could not risk bringing me here, until you knew what my intentions were.”  
  
Amused, Andy motioned back to the ridge they had just come over, “I know you want to be angry that I kept this from you, but really, you couldn’t have managed that trek until this week.”  
  
Thinking about the other woman pulling armor from her closet, Miranda realized that Andy would have helped her any way, she just wouldn’t have shared this with her. “If I left without knowing this existed and came back for you, do you think I would not have searched the area?”  
  
Laughing at this matter of fact question, Andy offered only. “You’d have come back, but you wouldn’t have known what kind of trap you’d be walking into. You would not have known our numbers, the land, or the snares and warning systems we have threaded through all of this territory that the conquerors have written off as wasteland. Perhaps you would have gotten me, you would not have been able to touch this.” Instead of motioning out to the others, Andy pointed to her own chest, to her heart.  
  
“Why bring me here now?” Miranda asked in a whisper.  _Why not send me on my way ignorant of all this?_  
  
“You took the throne once in anger and despaired the circumstances of having it. You were lost. That does not diminish another truth—you are unique in all the realms. What could you do if you took the throne with a purpose? What if you had a specialized force that fully embraced the changes you wanted to make and had trained to do it?”  
  
“What?” Miranda started and then stopped and tried again. “Are you saying?” She shook her head as if to clear it of this shock. “What are you saying, Andy?”  
  
The younger woman smiled at her. “I’m saying that you have the same things to prove to the conquerors that we do. I’m saying that I support you. I cannot speak for the others, but I have heard murmurs amongst the people here. You might just have the force needed to accomplish your goals.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Unaccustomed to genuine interest and acceptance, Miranda kept Andy in her line of vision as she was introduced to the vast array of assembled persons in the clearing. Her entire life Miranda had fought just to stay alive, let alone to get anyone on her side. Those uneasy alliances were always temporary in any case. The time she cared and tried to help someone, they just got themselves killed in the end. It was overwhelming to find that she had been nursed back to health and once her motivations were made clear, she was brought further into the fold with people who wanted to meet her—even wanted to support her.  
  
“In order to keep your secrecy, we could not march in from the wasteland. I appreciate that you all share my desire to overthrow the regime, but I cannot accept your help at the cost of destroying everything you hold dear out here in this territory.” Miranda desperately wanted to accept their support, but not if doing so meant extinguishing this way of life—this resistance. It needed to live beyond her current mission.  
  
“Not all of us enter the wasteland through the waterfall as you did.” Nigel, a former captain in the conqueror’s troops, smiled wickedly at her. “There are many ways to get here, they are just not advertised. As to our arrival at the capitol—it need not prove the announcement of where we came from. The docks are so woefully supervised after all.”  
  
Snickers erupted through the circle around them and Miranda sought out Andy’s eye to seek more information. An amused shrug was her only answer. Turning her attention back to the balding man in front of her, Miranda asked, “Are you suggesting we attack from the sea?” Her doubt crept into her voice, but she could not help questioning the man’s sanity.  
  
“Nah. We’d just get in that way, not attack that way.” Nate, a master thief, encouraged the others to agree with him. “It’s not like we haven’t visited the capitol before, right?”  
  
The crowd erupted in easy laughter this time.  
  
“If you continue through our territory, then you come upon a system of water ways that leads out to the ocean. From there it’s a matter of hugging the coast that apparently no one answering to the crown has ever bothered with.” Nigel used a stick to crudely depict the path he was describing.  
  
“There are far too many of us to just sneak into the harbor.” Miranda objected once again.  
  
Nigel smiled at that. “How patient could you be, if you knew that success would be in your hand?”  
  
Raising her eyebrow at him in a well-known gesture, Miranda admitted, “I am not known for my patience.”  
  
Crossing his arms over his chest, the bald man chortled. “Indeed. Please consider, it has already been months since your ‘death’—time is on our side along with surprise. Ravitz and Follet do not expect you back and no one is looking for you. If they were told you were returning, they would think only that you would once again sneak into their presence and then strike with little to no plan. They certainly would not be expecting you to come back with reinforcements.”  
  
Lily spoke up for the first time, “We know all the weak spots. We’ve been exploiting from within and from without for years.”  
  
Nate patted his colleague on the shoulder with a smile. Then he turned back to Miranda. “That doesn’t even count the training Nigel and the others have from within the establishment.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
They returned to the cabin by moonlight. As they picked their way on the trail, Miranda reveled in the trust she had developed for the beautiful brunette during her convalescence. “Andy, I can’t thank you enough.” She hoped she could adequately express her gratitude before it would be time for her to leave.  
  
Busying herself with making tea at the counter, Andy didn’t make eye contact. “You don’t have to thank me, Miranda. I saved you with an eye to this exact possibility.” Andy answered a question that had lingered between them.  
  
“And yet you let this be my choice from start to finish.” Miranda searched Andy’s eyes for confirmation of what she already knew in her heart. “You would have shown me the path near the waterfall and sent me on my way.”  
  
Andy leaned back against the counter, the tea forgotten. “So many things have been taken from us. To manipulate you would have been a worse crime than what has already happened in your lifetime.” Andy thought of all her colleagues and what brought them together. “Living here as we do takes that power back. Healing you and letting you choose was a way to give power to another. Selfishly it was risky, but I could not face you had I achieved this same end through manipulation.”  
  
Miranda closed the distance between them. Her eyes sought permission, though she did not verbalize the question as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Andy’s. When Andy reached one hand up and around her neck and the other around her back to pull Miranda closer, the silver haired woman moaned. The kiss continued shifting in intensity as they struggled for contact and to fill their lungs. Hands pulled at clothes and tugged until their hands found soft skin to stroke and tease.  
  
Stepping back when her knees went weak, Miranda pulled Andy with her. On the threshold of the bedroom Miranda paused to look into Andy’s dark brown eyes. “I know it is your bed. Join me in it.” Her words were a breathy plea as she backed another step into the room and pulled her shirt over her head.  
  
Andy’s body trembled and she swiftly moved forward her body colliding with Miranda’s.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Days over land saw them at the water’s edge. By the end of that week they were at the ocean. Miranda smiled at the fact that the conquerors knew nothing of this vast land. It amused her that this ignorance would rise up and strike them as a viper would. In several campaigns, she had traveled the big water, though never coming from this direction. The plan was truly beautiful in its simplicity. For over a week, members of their force had slipped into the city to designated hiding places.  
  
“What are you thinking of?” Andy asked as she wrapped her arms around Miranda from behind.  
  
“I’m glad that we are the last to arrive in the Capitol. A week in hiding inside the city walls would have driven me mad.” Miranda rested her hands over Andy’s arms.  
  
“You would be as a caged animal after days in a room with no windows. Perhaps that would have been better for the fight we have ahead of us? Hmmm.” She kissed Miranda’s neck, and giggled at the tremor that ran through her body. “Starving a tiger before setting it out to hunt.”  
  
Turning in her lover’s arms, Miranda bit at her jaw. “You keep this blood thirsty edge of yours well hidden, Andy. How could I have ever believed you would stay behind in the wasteland? You want to make them bleed as much as I do, don’t you?”  
  
Nodding at this theory, Andy pulled Miranda in for a deep kiss. “Perhaps you are right.”  
  
*** *** ***  
  
Hair covered under Nigel’s captain’s helmet, eyes obscured by sun lenses, and mouth covered by the guard across her chin, Miranda slipped into the city guided by a disgraced soldier, Andy, and a master thief, Nate. Leaving the port, they boldly walked up the street not bothered by anyone except for nods from fellow soldiers. In the market square of the Capitol, the uniformed portion of their group gathered. The homemade warriors had fanned out into the crowd ready to move when the others did—just to their own drum as it were. Miranda knew she’d make use of this tactic in the future should there be resistance from within her own borders or a clash with a realm unwilling to peacefully accept their independence. “They hold court in the mornings and we should be in time to catch them in full swing.” Turning to catch sight of Andy and Nigel, Miranda asked, “Are the others in position?”  
  
Smirking as she glanced over to Nate and Lily arguing over a purchase at one of the market stalls, Andy assured her. “Yeah. They are ready.” When Miranda gazed into her eyes for many long seconds, Andy added, “If I get caught I will play up my damsel in distress before I poke their eyes out. Do not fall for the routine.” Her words were underlined with steel.  
  
Miranda nodded. “If they touch you—all plans will fly out the window. I will be running on pure instinct the same way that I went after the leader the first time.”  
  
Andy gave her a disbelieving look, “I know you’re not known for your patience, but force yourself to hold back as long as you can. The wounded woman routine works even in these brutally enlightened times. It’s one of my favorite ploys and I’d hate for you to miss it.”  
  
Miranda flexed her hands into fists at her sides knowing this was not the time or place to pull the younger woman in for a kiss. The mouth guard not withstanding, she would have liked to punctuate the moment. They were going into battle after all.  
  
“Move out.” Miranda growled at those closest to her knowing that the order would be spread throughout their contingent.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
As predicted the initial fighting had neutralized the majority of those in the chamber. This was their way—fight to the death and acquire the power of those you put down on the way. No one would interfere in an official challenge of authority. Miranda strode to the center of the room where she called out the man on the throne. “I’ve come to take what is mine.” She pointed a long dagger at the leader, Ravitz.  
  
He stood glancing to his commanders uneasily, but knowing he had to show strength. “Face me then.”  
  
Miranda loosened the mouth guard and then pulled the helmet off. She held it in one hand and the long dagger in the other. “You’ve already acknowledged me. There’s no out for you now.”  
  
From the left there was a commotion and then Follet burst through the crowd with a weeping woman as her captive. “Only issue a challenge you are ready to pay for, Miranda.” Jacqueline cast a wicked smile up at her leader and then back to the woman she tried to kill once already.  
  
Andy wept and struggled in Jacqueline’s vice grip. “Miranda. Miranda. I’m so sorry.” Her lip trembled as she stared at Miranda before ineffectually pushing against Jacqueline again.  
  
Remembering Andy’s words to her before entering the building, Miranda stood to her full height. She’d observed Andy sparring with a handful of colleagues and had seen no trace of the weakness radiating from her now. “The only way to get a woman is by force, hmm, Follet?” Miranda let her eyes shift over the struggling pair before coldly taking in those around them once more. If it was an act, then Andy had drawn Follet out into the open. If it was a moment of panic in a real fight, then the cost could be too high.  
  
“You’ve gone soft.” Ravitz stepped down from the dais so that he could pace nearer to her. “We moved against you for that reason.” He sneered as he got as close as he could without stepping into reach of Miranda’s long blade. “Soft.” He teased the word out into a grotesque insult.  
  
Miranda thought of the soft curves of Andy’s body and the way her lips responded to a kiss.  
  
“Please, Miranda.” Andy whimpered with a catch in her voice that wasn’t present earlier.  
  
The cooing sound from Follet nearly rivaled Ravitz’s disgusted intonation on the word soft. Miranda slid her eyes over to the pair of them, only to see a blade at Andy’s throat. “She must have really loved you to follow you into battle. Pussycat should have stayed at home.”  
  
The rage ready to overflow, Miranda took the precious second to make eye contact with Andy. With a barely there nod and a slow blink, Miranda realized it was part of the act. She returned to the scene overall where Andy’s other hand was on the hilt of Follet’s sword and her foot edged behind the woman’s leg.  
  
Ravitz had stepped forward and to the side hoping to come around behind Miranda while she focused on Follet.  
  
Miranda shifted her weight as she felt the objects in her hand and analyzed their use.  
  
Half stepping toward Follet, Miranda heard Ravitz grunt as he pulled his weapon at her back. Andy kicked Follet off balance and in the struggle pulled her sword from its scabbard. Rotating on the spot, Miranda backhanded Irving to the face with the heavy metal helmet. His blade made a horrible sound as it ran along her arm guard before glancing away. As he staggered backward, she lunged for him and stabbed him in the heart. Twisting the blade to be sure, she let him sink to the ground and away from her blade. Bleeding out would be faster than letting her weapon plug the hole.  
  
Turning to check on Andy, she watched as Follet scrambled away from her alternately kicking and swinging with her dagger. Andy pursued as the woman quickly rose to her feet ready to continue the fight. “You have claws, pussycat.” Follet teased her. “You’ll need them. Irving likes it rough and Miranda will bleed out soon enough taking her pleasure across the veil.”  
  
Andy turned enough to check the other fight only to have her weapon knocked from her hand and the woman at her back once more. The cuts she’d received in addition to the blows she hadn’t dodged had weakened her, but Follet had just inadvertently played into her strengths by making this a hand-to-hand fight.  
  
“Andy. Don’t listen to her.” Miranda’s voice carried across the room in tandem with Jacqueline’s attack.  
  
Andy struggled with her opponent. Gaining the column, she spun around and knocked Follet against it enough to dislodge from her back. Andy spun right into the other woman ready to fight. Punches were thrown. Andy had a bloody lip and a cut over her eye. Miranda could see the fight taking its toll on her, before she saw the other woman shift in her stance and euphoric expression stole across her features. It was hard for Miranda to watch as Andy leaned forward as if to embrace Jacqueline, but then in a quick motion her lover had broken the enemy’s neck and let her drop where they stood.  
  
Turning away from her kill, Andy searched for Miranda. They met in the middle each moving slower than they had on the way into the building.  
  
“The crown is yours.” Someone shouted out from the crowd.  
  
Another voice called out, “Once again Miranda rules.”  
  
There were murmurs through the hall, but mostly whispers except for the occasional shout.  
  
“A new first guard has been chosen as well.” This voice was closer to them and Miranda turned her eyes to see if a new threat had presented itself. Finding none, Miranda relaxed slightly.  
  
Miranda tugged Andy’s hand as she stepped up onto the dais. The whispers in the crowd fell silent. “Today was a reckoning against those too cowardly to challenge me in the open. They failed to kill me months ago. I did not fail to kill them. I suggest anyone trying in the future takes my head.”  
  
Those nearest them bent on one knee, “Hail Miranda.”  
  
The gesture of supplication spread throughout the hall, as did the pledge.  
  
*** *** ***  
  
After the great feast, Miranda lead Andy to her reclaimed chambers. All effects of another’s short stay there had been taken away in the aftermath of the fight.  
  
Andy moved to step into the bathing chamber.  
  
“Where are you going?” Miranda asked as she set her helmet and dagger on a chair next to the dresser.  
  
Returning to her lover’s side, Andy fixed a curious gaze on the older woman. “I was going to clean off, unless…” She let her words trail off as she took in Miranda’s darkened blue eyes and flushed face.  
  
“Unless what?” Miranda purred as she slipped her arm guards off and dropped them on the floor. She stepped into Andy’s space and reached for her arm guards as well.  
  
“You want me to stay dirty.” Andy panted out as she felt the door at her back. She hadn’t realized she’d even backed away from Miranda.  
  
Sensing that Andy would stay in place, Miranda loosened her breastplate and let it fall to the side. She began to tug on the fastenings of Andy’s next. “I have never seen a fight like yours. It was like you were possessed.” Miranda’s voice had deepened to a rough sultry tone that seemed to inspire shivers in her younger lover.  
  
Reaching for the belt at Miranda’s waist, Andy explained. “The moment I was free of the weaponry and able to just fight with her with no distractions was exhilarating.” Andy moaned as she felt her belt fall to the ground and heard a clatter as well.  
  
“You took her apart with your bare hands.” Miranda bit and licked against the salty sweat that had dried on Andy’s skin. She pulled the brunette’s shirt over her head in between kisses. “I knew you’d be glorious after watching you spar.” Miranda yanked her shirt over her head quickly as her hands came up and guided her nipples to rub against Andy’s. “How could you pretend to be so weak when you could have taken her easily?” Miranda claimed Andy’s mouth again as their breasts pressed and slid against each other with the motion of their breathing. Her hands teased down Andy’s sides to catch at the fabric at her hips and push it down. Not waiting, Miranda slipped her fingers between Andy’s legs. “I can taste the battle in the blood on your lips. I know it hurts, but not as much as this feels so good.” Miranda thrust up into Andy bending her legs to change the angle of her thrust. Her free hand clawed along Andy’s side and then found her breast so that her fingertips could pinch the nipple in time with her thrusts. “You spilled her blood for me. That’s an honor, Andy.” Miranda could tell her lover was close from the way Andy’s breathing caught with each of her motions. “You were willing to spill your blood for me, just as I was willing to spill mine.”  
  
Andy writhed against the door, delirious in the pleasure Miranda’s words and actions were sending through her. Her hands reached and caressed and grabbed Miranda as she rode the high of their battle lust and subsequent coupling. “Oh, Miranda.”  
  
Her own desire mounting, Miranda shifted her legs so that she could press her sex against Andy’s thigh. The way she was thrusting against Miranda, there should be enough pressure for Miranda to take the edge off. “You are mine.” Miranda sucked hard on Andy’s bloody lip as she claimed her lover as thoroughly as she could. Feeling tremors building in her thighs, Miranda used her teeth on the lip between her lips. As soon as she did so, Andy came hard with a wail. The brunette clutched Miranda to her as she shook through the aftershocks of her orgasm pulling Miranda with her into release as her thigh thrust over and over against her barely covered sex.  
  
“I’m yours and you are mine.” Andy pressed her forehead to Miranda’s as she regained her breath. “I’m not nearly done with you.” With that, Andy encouraged Miranda out of her pants, before leading them toward the bathing chamber.  
  
  
**_Fin._**  
  
x


End file.
